Professionalism Is for Everyone is a high quality program based upon the principles in the book, Professionalism Is for Everyone – Five Keys to Being a True Professional.

Participants discover the value, importance, and benefits of being a professional and are inspired to pursue a lifetime quest for professionalism in everything they do.

Individuals attending learn the Five Keys to Being a True Professional and the related supporting principles.They also learn dozens of tips, techniques, and insights of what they should and should not do to behave in a professional manner. They obtain down to earth advice and reminders that encourage and guide them in the pursuit of professional behavior and personal excellence in all aspects of their work and lives.

More about the Book

Free Items and Even More Information

We provide a variety of free items regarding professionalism and have much more information on this program. For competitive reasons we provide only summary information on our website.

See the bottom of this page for links to free items and contact information to request more information on this program.

PDF One Sheet

Download a one-page PDF summary of this program.

This "One Sheet" is for use in announcing this program to potential participants. This sheet describes the contents and benefits of the program from the perspective of "What would a potential participant like to know about this program before attending it?"

Purposes and Objectives

This program is designed to:

• Inspire individuals to pursue excellence, high values, and professional behavior
  
  
• Teach individuals what it means to be a professional
  
  
• Show participants examples and tips of what to do and not to do to behave professionally
  
  
• Encourage people to press for being the best and avoid mediocrity at home and at work
  
  
• Help organizations teach and communicate the foundation principles for professionalism
  
  
• Motivate personal accountability, pride, and a positive work ethic
  
  
• Boost caring, respect, teamwork, cooperation, and loyalty
  
  
• Inspire everyone to polish their manners, appearance, and civility
  
  
• Establish high standards of performance
  
  
• Reinforce positive values and moral conduct

Primary Outcomes

The primary outcome from this program is that people will think and act differently afterwards. The biggest differences are people will raise the bar on their own behavior and conduct and they will reconsider and elevate their personal value systems and performance standards.

Immediately after the program, people will begin to pay more attention to their personal appearance and work habits. They will make an earnest effort to improve the quality of their work. They will press for improvements. They will be less tolerant of slipshod work and mediocre performance from themselves or others. In addition, they will be more aware of the concept of professionalism and they will take steps to adopt a professional approach in everything they do.

Content Highlights

This program is based upon the book, Professionalism Is for Everyone – Five Keys for Being a True Professional, by James R. Ball, president, and CEO of The Goals Institute. The program has three parts.

Part I: Introduction, Overview, and What’s In It for You?

• What does it mean to be a professional?
• Why be a professional?
• Examples of behaviors that are and are not professional
• The PRO Model and the benefits of being a professional
• Introduction to the Five Keys to Being a True Professional and the related graphic icons

Part II: The Five Keys to Being a True Professional

1. Character
   The Professional Choice, Integrity, The Four Cornerstones of Trust, Being Responsible, Projecting a Professional Image and more...
   
   
2. Attitude
   The Professional Approach, Seeking Responsibility, Being a Team Player, and more...
   
   
3. Excellence
   Pressing for Excellence, Continual Improvement, and more...
   
   
4. Competency
   Expertise, Performance, Personal Effectiveness, and more...
   
   
5. Conduct
   Professional Maturity, Manners Matter, Respect, Confidentiality,
   and more...

Part III: Review, Wrap-up, and Send-Off

• The 10 Rules of Professionalism
• Review of the benefits of being a professional
• Review of the Five Keys for Being a True Professional and the related icons
• Pursuing a lifetime quest for excellence and being your professional best

Teaching and Facilitation Approaches

We use a variety of teaching and facilitation methods. Our strategies are to make it relevant, keep individuals involved throughout the program, keep the program fresh, interesting and fun, and keep it moving. The techniques we use include:

• Presentations of key points using PowerPoint Slides, Posters illustrating the Five Keys, flip chart summaries, and Case Sheets describing real-world situations
  
  
• Group and individual learning exercises and discussions following the instructions, examples, fill-in blocks, and questions in the Participant Learning Guide
  
  
• Memorable real-world  teaching stories and examples that anchor and illustrate main points
  
  
• Presentation and discussion of reminder tools, buttons, and Little Lesson™ tip cards for implementing techniques and tips covered in the program
  
  
• Brief readings of key points and critical Dos and Don’ts from Professionalism Is for Everyone
  
  
• Case studies and group discussion
  
  
• Skits and role plays are options in full-day programs
  
  
• Question and answers throughout the program
  
  
• A short wrap-up drawing exercise that everyone enjoys and remembers

Benefits for Individuals

This program provides many benefits for the individuals who attend. Participants leave this program motivated to pursue a lifetime quest for high values and professionalism both at work and in their personal lives. As an individual attending this program you will:

• Discover how you, your associates, friends, and family will benefit and grow by adopting a professional approach to work and life.
  
  
• Explore what it means to be a true professional and why every job you do should be done professionally
  
  
• Learn the Five Keys to Being a True Professional and how you can apply each of these keys to your advantage at work and in your personal life
  
  
• Discuss how you can use and rely upon the Four Cornerstones of Trust for building and improving your business and personal relationships
  
  
• Find out what successful people do and do not do to gain the respect and admiration of others
  
  
• Review dozens of dos and don’ts and examples that demonstrate how professional behavior compares to behavior that is not professional
  
  
• Learn how to coach and inspire professionalism in others
  
  
• Get energized and inspired to pursue your professional best in all aspects of work and life
  
  
• Acquire skills and techniques that will give you a competitive advantage in the workplace
  
  
• Polish your professional image, appearance, manners, and conduct and open doors to opportunities for advancement and greater responsibilities
  
  
• Increase the respect you enjoy from individuals at work and in social and civic settings
  
  
• Feel good about the pride you have in your work
  
  
• Bolster your confidence and commitment for doing the right thing at the right time
  
  
• Improve your abilities for dealing with people who are not behaving in a professional manner

Benefits for organizations

Organizations enjoy many benefits from bringing this program to their associates. Some key benefits are:

• The need and time required for dealing with disciplinary, administrative, and personnel problems go down
  
  
• Performance, quality, profits, and customer satisfaction go up
  
  
• People are more joyful, respectful, loyal, confident, and positive and they have more pride in themselves and their organizations
  
  
• It is easier to recruit and retain excellent people

Targeted Audience

The ideal audience is a group of individuals working for an organization that has decided to renew or enhance its commitment to excellence, professionalism, and personal accountability.

This program is adaptable to audiences of any type or experience level and any size. For example, we have provided this program in a full-day format for 450 high school teachers and administrators and in a half-day format for the executive leadership team of a regional bank.

Program Length Options

We offer three program options. Option 1 is a keynote or executive presentation that ranges from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Option 2 is a half-day seminar that ranges from 3 to 4 hours. Option 3 is a full-day seminar that ranges from 5 to 7½ hours.

Examples of Clients for this Program

We have hundreds of clients for this seminar and our related presentation and training tool resources. These include premiere organizations in the medical, education, healthcare, banking, professional services, public sector, and other fields.

Some examples of clients that have had us provide this program or have provided this program themselves using our tools and resources include: AIG, American Cancer Society, Arlington County Government, Bettendorf School District in Iowa, Blount County Schools in Tennessee, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Comcast, Dealer Tire, Horace Mann Companies, Gettysburg College, Internal Revenue Service, LabOne, McDonald’s, Moss Adams LLP, Schneck Medical Center, Schwan’s Foods, US Food and Drug Administration, US Postal Service, Verizon Wireless, and Wells Fargo.

Learning Guide and Take-Home Tools

We offer a variety of resources and implementation tools for this program. The specific items we provide depend upon the program objectives, length of time available and other factors. The primary resources and tools we provide with our programs are:

• The book Professionalism Is for Everyone
  
  
• Professionalism Is for Everyone Learning Guide – for half-day and longer seminars. This is an 8½ by 11, four-color Learning Guide complete with examples, exercises, tips, and suggestions.
  
  
• Lots of cards, tools, buttons and other items for use as reminders of key points or tools for implementing lessons learned
  
  
• Certificate of completion

Teach-It-Yourself Option

In addition to having us provide this seminar at your location, we offer a Teach-It-Yourself option for organizations that want to present this program themselves using their own learning leaders and facilitators.

The resources available include Facilitator's Guides for use in teaching Professionalism Is for Everyone, Learning Guides for students in the program, PowerPoint® slides, and other teaching aids – everything you need to provide this program in your organization, all at affordable prices.

For more information, please call us or visit the For Trainers section of our website.

Frequently Asked Questions and Much More

Please call (see number below) or email us for:

• A more complete program description
  
  
• Illustrations of handouts and tools
  
  
• Answers to the most frequently asked questions about this program

We provide a variety of free items regarding professionalism

Stand Tall Video Clip

View this short Flash video clip to learn How to Nurture Professionalism In Your Organization in 3 Steps.

Stand Tall Booklet

Download this free booklet in PDF format to learn How to Nurture Professionalism In Your Organization in 3 Steps.

30 Question Quick Test

Take our Quick Test and see how you score on our professionalism scale. A fun way to stimulate thinking and review reminders about what it means to be a professional.

Download the Quiz in PDF format

Articles on Professionalism

Order Professionalism Is for Everyone online today

We sell our Professionalism Is for Everyone book on our website. Just click on the buttons below. While the book is available through online booksellers, it is not available in bookstores except by special order.

To order online from us, click the appropriate 'buy now' button below, or call us at 703-264-2000. If you are considering an order of 500 or more copies, please call or email us for an additional volume discount price.

Buy 1 to 9 copies at $9.95 each

Buy 10 to 99 copies at $8.45 each (15% discount)

Buy 100+ books @ $6.95 each - save $3.00 (30%) per book

Just $3 for Shipping and Delivery: To simplify things, for shipments inside the Continental U.S. we charge a flat $3 shipping charge for each order to one location, no matter how many books you buy. If you are outside the Continental U.S. we will email you a quote for the shipping cost before we ship your order.

We ship by US Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx Ground depending on the number of books ordered and destination. Orders are shipped the day received or the next business day. If you want overnight or special delivery, please email or call us.

Thank you for your interest in our program and materials.